Labor people: a milkmaid from Kaybitsky district.
Today we will tell about Turuntaeva Maria Sergeevna. She was born on October 10, 1926 in the village of Bagayevo, Kaybitsky district. At the age of 14, after five classes of the local school she began working on the collective farm. From the very first days of the war her father left to the front and never returned. The family had six children orphaned. Working for two and thus contributing to the victory became the Mary’s goal. Since the spring of 1942 she worked on a farm and was mobilized for forestry. For valiant work she awarded a medal.
After the war, Maria Turuntaeva started working at the dairy farm. Working that period was especially difficult. However, her success of beginner was impressive. In 1968, Maria Sergeevna made an average of 4,000 kg of milk from each enshrined cow. In subsequent years she made 4200 kg. It was an unprecedented figure for the whole area.
The school of excellence of Maria Turuntaeva has become widely known in the republic. In the years 1969-1970 Maria Sergeyevna acted as the initiator of the competition of livestock breeders of for a worthy meeting of the 100th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin. For the victory in the competition, she is listed in the Republican Book of Honor and awarded with the medal “For Valiant Labor. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin ".
- We were young, so we even did not notice the severity of labor. Indeed, work on the farm was difficult because it was done manually. Feed for cattle we brought from the street, we carried manure, cans with milk on our shoulders - this is only a part of the work that was done two or three times a day. Manual milking of cows is also difficult. In order to keep up with others, I did everything quickly. Those years the work of a person was evaluated according to merit, - says Maria Sergeevna.
In the beginning of April 1971 the people of Bagaevo learnt that their compatriot Maria Sergeevna Turuntaeva was awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor with the award of the Sickle and Hammer gold medal for her impressive labor achievements in the production and harvesting of livestock products.
Maria was awarded the bronze medal of the USSR Exhibition of Economic Achievements, diplomas of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the TASSR, the district executive committee and the district committee of the CPSU.
After retiring, she took part in the collective farm’s public life for a long time, as much as she could. Then she moved to live in the city of Zelenodolsk to her daughter, but fellow villagers do not forget about her and come to visit. The small, fragile woman is 92 years old, but today she is still an example of hard work.